A Die-Cut, a Stamp, and a Big Shot Walked up to a Stamparatus

One day, a die-cut, a stamp, and a Big Shot walked up to a Stamparatus and asked, “Can you help us make life easier for our favorite Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator?” And the Stamparatus answered, “Of course! Let me show you how.”

That’s true story, of course. Oh, ok. Not really, because my stamps and tools only talk to me, not to each other. But the Stamparatus really does make life easier.

You know how when you want to stamp and die-cut an image using a coordinating framelit or thinlit, and you stamp first, then cut, but the die moves just a little when you’re running it through the Big Shot? You either have to stamp and cut again or just go with it if it isn’t too off. Even if you use the Magnetic Platform, sometimes those crazy magnets and the dies hit “like” polarities and the die shoots across the platform. Frustrating and time consuming, especially if you have multiples to stamp and cut.

Here’s a wonderful tip from demonstrator Linda Heller who demoed the Stamparatus at OnStage Live in Salt Lake City in November.

First – Die-cut one image from cardstock. Then, place the negative (the cardstock you stamped from) in the Stamparatus. I placed mine in the corner, but you don’t have to, because those magnets are really strong and hold the cardstock in place. (I added a second magnet later.)

In this case, I used one of the Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits that coordinates with the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set. Both of these are in the 2017-18 Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. Note that my dragonfly is well away from the hinges. I didn’t shim, so I kept it toward the center of the Stamparatus so the image would stamp very well.

Next, place the coordinating stamp in the negative space.

Close the plate over the stamp. Be sure the flat side of the stamp is up, so that when you close the plate over the stamp, the “stamp side” will be ready to ink. Of course, if you want a big blob of ink on the image, that’s fine. You can ink the back of the stamp with a light color, then ink the stamp side with a darker color. That could look really cool! However, I wanted to stamp the detailed image, so I made sure the flat side of the stamp was against the plate.

Next, place the die-cut back into the negative space.

Ink the stamp (I used Tranquil Tide), then close the plate over the die-cut. This way, you can do all the die-cutting first, then just place the die-cuts back into your “jig” and stamp. If you’re stamping a lot of die-cuts, this will make it so much easier.

I only stamped three, but here’s what they looked like after stamping and coloring.

Since I was using alcohol markers (Stampin’ Blends) on water based ink (Tranquil Tide Classic), there was no smearing or bleeding. I used Pool Party and Bermuda Bay Stampin’ Blends to color the dragonflies.

Here’s my finished card.

I didn’t need to use all three dragonflies on the card, but since I had them, why not, right? They were a little too big to add the sentiment directly to the card, so I stamped on a Pool Party scrap with Tranquil Tide ink, then notched the tail with Paper Snips. (I used the Stamparatus to stamp the sentiment so I could bure it was going to be straight.) I also added some Clear Wink of Stella to the wings for some extra sparkle.

Be sure to reserve your Stamparatus today so you don’t have to wait until June to order it! The reservation window closes December 30, so don’t delay!

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a lovely day!

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